On a deportation flight from Dublin to Islamabad carrying 24 Pakistani men accused of illegally immigrating to Ireland, passengers were served a full Irish breakfast featuring pork sausages. The meal was later flagged by Irish police as “inappropriate”, prompting changes to catering arrangements for future deportation flights.
No one ever said food served on an aeroplane tastes good. It’s even worse if the food onboard is forbidden.
During a chartered flight from Ireland deporting 24 illegal Pakistani nationals — all of them Muslims — were offered a full Irish breakfast, which included, among other things, pork sausages, according to reports.
For context, a full Irish breakfast is a traditional hearty meal typically featuring sausages, bacon, eggs, black pudding, grilled tomatoes, mushrooms and toast or hash browns.
The incident took place on September 23, 2025, during Ireland’s first chartered deportation flight to Pakistan.
The aircraft, an Airbus A330 flying from Dublin to Islamabad, was transporting 24 men who were being deported under Irish immigration laws. On board were members of An Garda Siochana (the national police and security service of Ireland), a doctor, an interpreter and an independent human-rights monitor appointed by Ireland’s Department of Justice to oversee deportation procedures and ensure returnees were treated with dignity.
According to the monitoring report accessed by The Irish Times, the Irish Police criticised both the quality and appropriateness of the meals served during the journey. Officers reportedly described the food as being “of a lower standard than expected” and specifically flagged the inclusion of pork sausages in breakfast meals for deportees travelling to Pakistan.
“The serving of pork sausages as part of a full Irish breakfast was inappropriate,” read the report.
The consumption of pork is forbidden by Muslims across the world.
Following the incident, aviation services company Air Partner, which organises deportation charter flights for the Irish government, altered catering arrangements for future operations, reported The Irish Times.
The revelations emerged after the newspaper appealed an initial refusal by the Department of Justice to release deportation monitoring reports under Freedom of Information legislation. The reports detail the conduct of multiple deportation flights carried out by Ireland in 2025 as part of a wider crackdown on illegal immigration and failed asylum applications.
The monitoring report concluded that the deportation operation was conducted “humanely” and with due regard for the “rights and dignity” of those being returned, though several problems were documented during the journey.
The report also detailed an incident on the flight in which a deportee became upset while boarding the aircraft after suspecting that a police officer was recording him on a mobile phone. He was eventually convinced to board, and the monitor later confirmed that filming had indeed taken place.
According to a report by the UK-based news outlet, The Daily Mail, the Pakistan deportation flight alone reportedly cost the Irish state 473,000 euros. Ireland also chartered flights to Georgia, Nigeria and Romania during the year, spending roughly a million euros in total while deporting at least 205 people, including failed asylum seekers and convicted criminals.
